From the Midwest to Hollywood

I always leave my commercial auditions class with worthwhile new information. Our teacher is really experienced,  having booked something like thirty major television commercials. She gives us the lowdown on how people get parts in commercials, and she puts us on camera to help us learn what to do at auditions.

 One thing I didn’t know about commercials before I transitioned to Los Angeles is sometimes people earn “residuals.” This means that every time a commercial airs, someone keeps track of it and those who worked in the ad get paid in twelve week increments. So sometimes, an actor works on a commercial for one day and for the next year or more gets a check in the mail every 12 weeks, provided that the ad is still running.

Oftentimes, though, a  person gets paid a “buyout,” which means they get one check for doing the commercial. Actors usually do not like this as much because the commercial might get aired hundreds of times, but they’ll never get another penny for it.

It turns out that commercials sometimes pay better than television programs. My teacher says many actors lie about how much they make on tv. What she means is, if you ask an actor if they are earning a lot of money for their television program, they’ll usually say “yes,” even though the asker perhaps wouldn’t be impressed by the actual sum. I think, though, it is hard to decide what counts as a lot of money. I’d be pretty pumped to earn $1,000 for a television show, but this would not compare well to the $10,000 or $3o,ooo a person might make for a national commercial.